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What's On

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Exhibitions

Showcasing rare and exquisitely decorated fans from the collection of the Hon. Christopher Lennox Boyd, allocated to the Museum by H.M. Government in lieu of inheritance tax in 2015, this display reveals the techniques behind the making, investigation and conservation of fans.

This exhibition brings together a remarkable range of works from the Museum’s collections to explore the ways in which artists and composers have engaged in a dialogue between sight and sound, with works by Rossetti, Renoir and Picasso and music manuscripts by Handel and Brahms.

Rembrandt made etchings of female nudes during two distinct periods of his career: in the 1630s, and another two decades later. This exhibition draws attention to the beauty and power of Rembrandt’s treatment of the female form, despite attacks received from critics of the time.

Over the past fifty years, Francesca and Massimo Valsecchi have built up a remarkable collection of paintings, furniture, sculpture, glass and ceramics, a number of which can be seen on loan to us throughout the galleries of the Fitzwilliam Museum.

The Salisbury family, based locally in Cambridge, have kindly lent part of their studio ceramics collection to the Museum. This collection, formed over many years, includes pieces by some of the finest artists to work in clay from the mid-20th century onwards. These include Austrian and German emigrés Lucie Rie, Hans Coper and Ruth Duckworth, and contemporary artist Jennifer Lee, winner of the Loewe Craft Prize 2018.

Exploring the life and afterlives of one of Britain’s bestloved poets, this tablecase display features the rarely seen autograph manuscript of Keats’s masterpiece, Ode to a Nightingale. Visitors can also view the miniature portrait of Keats that he gave to his ‘bright star’ Fanny Brawne when he left for Rome, never to return.

See a carefully recreated replica of Poussin’s ‘great machine’ (a miniature stage set used to 'rehearse' paintings) based on the composition of the artist's masterpiece, Extreme Unction (1638-40), acquired by the Museum in 2012.

08/10/2019 to 07/06/2020

Free

Tour

CANCELLED
In the light of the developing situation with the spread of COVID-19 we have taken the decision to cancel this event. This is not a decision we have taken lightly but our priorities have to be the welfare of our visitors, our staff and their loved ones.